Monday, November 30, 2009

It's the time of year when people look for gift suggestions, and Shirley Bovshow at www.GardenWorldReport.com has recorded a show featuring several garden writers (including yours truly), each with a garden related gift idea.

For those of you who don't know my life's story, my first career was on Broadway. I still love to sing, and recorded a CD of (mostly) show tunes about flowers and plants. Shirley was kind enough to include my CD Green Up Time on her show and asked me to assemble a slide show to accompany the music. I collected 20 images that fit the green-up theme, then scrambled to record a video intro on Mike's cell phone! (Be kind, I need to work on my video skills.)

I hope you like the music, and if you decide it would be the perfect gift for the gardener on your list, please feel free to order from my website.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Our family tradition when I was little was to take a Sunday drive in the country, leaving West Philadelphia for the rural atmosphere of Rosemont Pa, hunting for 'The Bittersweet Man'. He stood by the big curve on Montgomery Avenue, arriving in late September, selling bunches of bittersweet and Japanese lanterns. He'd remain for a few week's then disappear until the following year.My Mother had a pottery pitcher with a shiny brown glaze that was the only container she'd ever use for the orange berries. Now I insist on cutting my own bittersweet every fall, from the roadsides in PA, NJ, NY or my favorite place, a certain backyard in Ipswich MA. Yes I know it's an invasive scourge to many people, but I'm actually doing a community service when I cut stems when the shells are bright yellow, just before the berries, open to bring indoors. These days I often makea simple wreath with thestems. Here's how.1.Cut stems in full berry,three to four feet long.2.Take one stem andwrap it around itself,tucking in the end. Nowyou have the base ofthe wreath. Even a sixyear-old can do it with-out help.3.Take another stem andweave it in and outaround the circle. Tuckin any small branchesthat jut out.4.The trick is to harvestthe stems just beforethe berries open, midSeptember around NewYork City, second week in October around Ipswich, and make the wreath the same day you pick the stems. That way you'll have almost no droppage of berries. Hang the wreath indoors in a spot that doesn't get brushed against, or on a door that doesn't get slammed. Prop on a shelf, or lay flat on a coffee table out of reach of the dog's tail. Lucy is very proud of her wreath, and I'm proud of mine.

I'll keep it until just after Thanksgiving on my coffee table (top of the post) then replace it with something else; but my little yellow pitcher with extra stems, sitting on a shelf in the bathroom, will stay until spring.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

This afternoon I finished putting the last of my clients' gardens to bed for the season. It finally feels like November in NYC; I hurried to beat the rain that never came.

Everyone is neatly cut back, well mulched, decked out with evergreen boughs and in some instances berries and gourds.

Perhaps it was the knowledge that my season is done that made me wax sentimental (and sigh with relief), but as I walked home through the park I saw foliage colors and juxtapositions of needles and leaves that put my work to shame.

It's all around us. At least till the first winter wind blows it away.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

When I hung out of my office window clutching my Canon Rebel EOS, I could grab a shot of the climbing 'New Dawn' rose draping the balcony across the street. Granted 'New Dawn' blooms for about three weeks in June, then never again that year, but the sight was so lovely it inspired me to plant my own in my all container garden on our 18th floor. I intermingled it witha small bell-shapedClematis integrifolia'Rooguchi' that usedthe rose canes for itspersonal trellis.(doubleclick on the image toenlarge the Clematis)Then in spring of 2009I looked across 80th St.with great dismay. Theowners of the terracegarden had removedthe rose WITHOUT MYPERMISSION. It's myborrowed scenery, notjust their garden. Don'tI get a say? This springtheir terrace had a fewsmall trees and somesplotches of crimsonthat looked like geran-iums. I DIDN'T VOTEFOR THAT. Isn't this a democracy? I propose that if I have to look at the garden daily and it's my only view, I should have a voice. Do you agree, or will this issue just go the way of term limits for Mayors in the city of New York?

Thursday, November 12, 2009

What? Never heard of it? I'm not surprised. You won't find it at a big box store; it takes a special kind of nursery to offer this plant.

Maybe people just don't understand how to classify Apiosamericana (aka hopniss, aka groundnut). Is it an edible? an ornamental? A. americana is both of these and more. Without exaggeration I offer you:

- an ornamental vine with a fragrant and lovely flower;- a low maintenance plant, growing approximately 10 feet in a season;- a perennial that grows in sun to part shade, tolerates wet and dry soils, and like most legumes, thrives in poor soils;- a delicious tuber; after letting the plant establish for 2 years, you can harvest a crop each fall without sacrificing performance the following year.

I found no reference to growing Apios in containers, but decided to take a chance in a tight corner of a client's terrace. I wanted something that would mask the railing and grow well in a half day of sun. And if, perchance, I got to harvest a meal from the container at the end of the season...well, how nice for me!

The leaves of A. americana are typically leguminous: pinnately compound with 5-7 leaflets.

Flowers are wisteria-esque; individual blooms are pink on the outside, reddish on the inside (Georgia O'Keefe fans take note) and borne in clusters. They bloom in August/September and you'll often smell their intense perfume before you notice the flower visually.

Tubers form inches below the soil surface and grow in chains, with the older tubers being the largest. When you cut back the vines in fall (as I did earlier this week), it's the perfect time to dig up a meal.

In the wild this plant often colonizes rocky soils, making the tubers difficult to dig. In the cultivated soil of a back yard garden or a rooftop container, however, digging up a meals' worth of hopniss is quick and easy. I don't claim it's foraging, but it sure is fun.

I like my hopniss roasted, but you can boil, bake, or saute them...whatever your little heart desires. The taste is nutty and dense, like a cross between a potato and a peanut.

Whether you want to eat the tubers or merely gaze upon the lovely Apios, do me a favor. Ask for it wherever you shop for plants. Ask for it every time you go in. Ask until you wear them down. It's a tactic that works surprisingly well. In the meantime, you can find A. americana in Brooklyn at Gowanus Nursery and via mailorder from Brushwood Nursery.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

This low fat appetizer is like a crustless quiche, served warm or at room temperature. The sorrel has a lemony taste, and is easy to grow as a garden perennial.

2 ½ cups nonfat cottage cheese

4 cups sorrel leaves, washed and spun dry*

8 ounces low-fat cream cheese cut in pieces

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 large eggs

2 cloves minced garlic

4 teaspoons chopped fresh basil

½ cup pine nuts

Salt and pepper to taste

*substitute a pack of frozen chopped spinach if no sorrel is available: pre-cook and drain in the same way as below. Still very good but missing that lemony zing.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Chop sorrel leaves. Drop in boiling salt water for a minute. Drain well in a strainer, squeeze out additional liquid by hand, and pat dry with a paper towel. Let cool. Drain cottage cheese in the strainer and press out excess liquid. Put all ingredients except pine nuts in food processor and blend until smooth. Then mix in pine nuts and adjust seasoning.

Bake in a buttered 9” round pan for about an hour, until lightly brown on top. Let cool. Cut in wedges. Serves 12 as an appetizer, 8 for lunch.

Garnish with small fresh sorrel leaves, cherry tomatoes both red and yellow, extra pine nuts if you have them and extra pine nuts.

Lemon Loaf Lavandula

Not all lavender has the same great flavor. Some species taste like camphor. For cooking use any variety of Lavandula angustifolia, sometimes called English lavender. If you don't grow your own and are buying dried lavender buds, make sure it's 'culinary grade' not just anything they have lying around a cosmetics chain store.

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9-by-f-by-3-inch loaf pan. Cream the butter and sugar until soft. Add the eggs one at a time until smooth; add the rind. Pinch the lavender with your fingers to release more oils and add to the mixture. Combine flour, baking powder and salt, mixing lightly with a spoon. Add the dry ingredients and milk to the creamed mixture, alternating in two or three pours. Bake for about an hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. While the cake is baking make this glaze.

For the glaze

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon dried lavender buds or one teaspoon fresh buds

1 tablespoon grated lemon rind

1/4 to 1/2 cup Grand Marnier liqueur a delicious option

Mix all ingredients in a small saucepan, pinching the lavender buds with fingers before adding. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from stove.

When the cake comes out of the oven, let cool for about 10 minutes, turn out of the pan and place on a plate, right side up. Prick the top with a fork in several places and pour the glaze over the loaf letting it absorb slowly. Let the cake cool before slicing. Pass any extra glaze in a small pitcher when serving the slices.

Tangy Herb Cheese

Line a strainer or colander with rinsed cheesecloth, or if you don't have that, position several drip coffee filters inside. Spoon unflavored yogurt in the filters or cheesecloth. Place the colander on a deep dish, cover loosely with wax paper, refrigerate, and let the yogurt drain for eight hours or overnight. Put the drained yogurt in a container and add 1 to 2 tablespoons of your favorite finely chopped fresh herbs like thyme, rosemary and chives. Spread on crackers, celery or cucumber slices.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Laurent Lambert of Brooklyn, NY, for the photo of Fefe channeling his inner feline.

Judge Joe De Sciose chose this image because it has "such a homey, relaxed feeling, a cat basking in the sun streaming through the window, nice composition, and a wonderful balance of light and shadow."

Joe also offers these comments and suggestions to our runners-up:

Ulla (http://goldilocksfindsmanhattan.blogspot.com), I'd love to see the cat's face. It would have been a good idea to get eye level with the cat and get shots of him/her playing around the pumpkins. Shooting while lying on your stomach for an hour after having sprinkled the pumpkins with catnip would have given you some great shots.

Tracy, you've captured a great mood and the cats look terrific (definitely NOT starving!). The photo would have been stronger if you'd cleaned up the background (the black nursery pot, the grill and lid in back of the the fire pit) so we could focus on the main features.

Sarah, I'm pretty sure that's not a real animal...it would have been more interesting (and spookier!) with a strategically placed candle or a flashlight.

Many thanks to all of you from both of us. And Laurent, please email ESP so she can get you your prizes!

By the fountain at Columbus Circle, New York City, a designer with a sense of humor plants decorative onions to reflect the globe sculpture across the street.

Giant allium bulbs are ready to plant now for next spring and summer bloom. In fall catalogs, they're usually bunched dismissively with "other bulbs" after the ever popular tulips and daffodils, an afterthought. But they have the advantage of being showy, deer and rodent resistant because of that oniony aroma, useful for container planting, and unlike daffodils and tulips, the seed heads continue to look great in the garden and in a vase long after the flower has passed. Above, seed heads in July add structure and style to a few plants of santolina.

Two or three large alliumslook like lollipopssticking up from thesoil. Don't be stingy,buy a dozen or moreto clump in one areato look kinda natural.

Alliums have onegreat disadvantage.With most of theornamental onionsthe foliage starts toyellow or dies backcompletely by thetime the floweremerges. So placeyour bulbs amongother leafy plants tocamouflage the die-back, as shown herein the herb gardenof the NYBG.

Although you wouldn'tknow it from my im-ages where the alliumsseem to be all purple,they come in variousshades of lilac, pink,white and even a trueblue and a yellow.Be sure to check forhardiness in your areaif you want them to last.

To the right, on TheHigh Line in late Junea display of astilbe inthe foreground, andbehind, foxtail lilyand drum stick allium(A. sphaerocephalon).Double click on this orany image to get abetter view.

Try ornamental onionsin containers with otherplants, and the seedheads will reward youwith their statelypresence. Full sun andexcellent drainage arethe two requirements.

I've had great successforcing A. schubertiion a sunny windowsillin winter, and watchingthe buds emerge andunfold to look like giantfirecrackers. As thefoliage died back, I cutsome stems from myboxwood shrub andpoked them gently intothe pot to provide acomplete cover-up.

Below are two arrangements with stuff I grew on my farm. The fresh arrangement includes drumstick and another small pink allium, globe thistle,and several cone flowers, stems cut very short and stuck in wet floral foam.

The dried arrangementis composed of stiffnecked garlic, and theseed heads of Chinesechives and Alliumchristophiistuck inone of my favoritevases. When you gettired of the arrange-ment, cook with thegarlic.